Charter schools vs Public schools

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Charter Schools vs. Public Schools
The debate on which school is better between charter schools and public schools has raged on for many years with no apparent conclusion. Proponents of each side have always been said to misinterpret data regarding the success associated with each side or offer falsely computed or biased data. It is due to this reason that the supporters of each type of school maintain that their type of school is the best performing. This essay looks at the suitability of the two types of schools by looking at various aspects such as discipline, understandability and overall academic performance among others. The paper borrows from some theories such as the Foucault’s Panopticism, Schulz’s evidence, and Freire’s Banking Concept.
Charter schools are publicly funded learning institutions that rely on their self-set curriculum and set of conducts and operations, different from those of the public schools. It is important to note that they are also public schools and receive funding from the government. However, they are privately managed by organizations or individuals who also provide donations and grants, and in some instances, moral support. According to the charter by which they operate. The original reason for the charter school idea was to increase competition among the schools and also offer parents a wider scope of choice on where to take their children for schooling. The increased competition would lead to better performance in all schools.

The mode of operation in each type of school is different; these differences would either offer an opportunity for success or failure.
When it comes to performance, many people argue that there are effective public schools and ineffective public schools, and ineffective and effective charter schools; therefore, it would be hard to give a general view. However, from past studies, it is right to say that charter schools perform better academically as compared to district schools. The newest study by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools affirms this proposition by its conclusion that charter schools offer excellent learning opportunities. According to the study any student who had more that four years of charter school education had stronger achievement growth as compared to one who had only been in a public school. One of the main reasons for this is the difference in class size. District schools seem to have more students as compared to charter schools which always have a manageable size. Most parents do not have time to search for good charter schools; they just take their children to the nearest public school near their home. Another reason for this is that most of the charter schools do not care about the transportation of children to and from school.
The large numbers in public school make personal tuition a near impossibility. Teachers therefore just lecture the students and assume that they have understood. They start seeing students as just vessels/containers in which they must put knowledge as explained by Freire’s banking concept theory. According to Freire, instead of communicating with their students, the teacher issues communiqués and academic deposits which the students are expected to take in, keenly memorize and repeat when called upon to do so (Freire 245). The students’ action, therefore, extends to as far as accepting, filing and storing of the information given. Though this concept is supposed to apply to all schools, it would be more widely acceptable for charter schools.
The narration by teachers makes students seem like zombies. They just take in whatever they are told without questioning or realizing the real significance of whatever they are told. For example, they will memorize that six by six is equal to thirty-six without the impulse to question or even understand what six is. The students will also not ask why the formula of Pi is 3.14. This is because the more the students listen keenly, the more they can be regarded as better students. A teacher who gives more deposits will be considered as among the best teacher (Freire 244). This mode of teaching may not result in good results for the majority of the students as they may end up forgetting whatever that they had crammed when it is finally exam time. However, a few bright students who may have got one or two concepts here and there may perform well. The banking concept of teaching may also not equip learners with the necessary skills and knowledge that would benefit them once they finish their education; this is because they only cram for exams and afterward forget everything.
It is important to note that each charter school has a particular academic target or expectations as they are more accountable for their results as compared to the district schools. The school is not supposed to substantially deviate from this target for a consecutive number of years lest the charter is canceled. The sponsor organization will not continue funding an institution if its results are not up to expectations. Charter schools, therefore, have to ensure that their students perform well in their studies. As compared to other schools, they are also judged by their results from the first year of operation. It is due to the need for better results that they are accused of taking all the most motivated and bright students from the neighborhood leaving public schools with less motivated children. This argument has however been fiercely disputed and responded to with the argument that if the children were that motivated; they would remain in their former schools.
In the quest to ensure good grades are realized, one of the areas that they do not compromise on is in the discipline. According to reports, charter schools always have lower cases of student suspensions as compared to public schools. The reason for this is that majority of the charter schools are required to display on their notice board the various cases of grave student indiscipline in the school as the discipline may affect to a great extent the level of academic performance in the school. In a school, anyone who engages in indiscipline activities is expected to face serious consequences that may include being put way from the rest of the students for a whole day and caning among others; this incorporates a sense of fear in the students that doing a certain thing will result in an appropriate punishment. It also makes the students to respect the teacher and therefore listen keenly to whatever they say.
The use of fear to control subjects has been in existence for centuries and has always achieved its intended purpose. Foucault’s Panopticism theory clearly explains how the use of fear can lead to the results wanted. The panopticon was a prison design by which inmates were separated from each other and held in cubicles from which they could be viewed by a guard in the central tower. The inmates could not, however, see the guard, they, therefore, had just to assume that they were always being watched which is not the case (Foucault 179) was. The belief that the inmates were always being watched made them abandon any activity that would land them into trouble. It was also easy to mold them into whatever that the prison wardens required. This concept is also used in schools to lead to better results. According to Foucault, the subject should not at any time know that he is being watched but should always know that this may be the case (Foucault 182). In school, one may not know whether they are being watched as the teachers may have a number of spies who report to them various kinds of student indiscipline. The teachers may also from time to time stand on the window and observe those that may be making noise or disturbing others. The use of panopticism invokes and bestows power to the user. This power then brings inequality between the parties involved. This feeling of inequality is what makes the student listen to whatever that the teacher tells him. By listening to whatever that they are told, students can get all the knowledge that they are required to learn.
Foucault’s concept can be seen as relating to Freire’s banking concept to a great extent in that both concepts call for power to one party and the complete subordination of the other party. Freire’s banking concept advocates for students being treated as vessels or objects to which the teachers deposit their academic knowledge. The teacher knows everything while the students, on the other hand, know nothing (Freire 244). Whatever that the students know, they are expected to forget and only take whatever that the teacher gives. This concept may aim to bring a sense of respect for the teacher so that he is seen as one who possesses something that the students lack. The students will have no otherwise but to listen to him and get therefore get the knowledge that will be tested in exams and that they will use in future in their careers. The Foucault concept on the other hand also seeks to evoke a feeling of respect for authority i.e. the teachers. The respect and fear against teachers make the students as objects that the teachers can mold and from whom they can expect anything. It discourages all unwanted behavior and actions as they will result in serious consequences. The concept makes it possible to observe performance in school going children, to assess their character, analyze and map their attitude and identify laziness and stubbornness (Foucault 181). Those who perform well in the various expectations are rewarded to motivate the rest.
Students in both charter and public schools learn through inductive reasoning at times. Various incidences that happen in school or their daily life should prepare them to make decisions in future regarding what I do or what is expected of them. It is through inductive reasoning that we can determine and conclude that the feeling of a strange itchy sensation in the nose shows that an individual is about to sneeze (Schulz 368). In schools, the ring of a bell during break time should signal that the break is over and that the next class should start immediately; one may not need to be reminded this. This is similar to the Foucault concept where one learns to associate a certain behavior with various consequences. A bell according to the Foucault also signifies that they should stop whatever they are doing and change to something else.
Inductive reasoning can be used in controlling the rate of indiscipline in both chartered and public schools by reminding the students what they would be required to do in case they found themselves in a certain situation that is almost similar to a previous one. It is, however, important to note that inductive reasoning can make us do a wrong action that can have grave consequences. Inductive reasoning can sometimes make people in the wrong in ways that would be a complete embarrassment to themselves, and their image (Schulz 370). For example in the search for past tenses for various words, a student may find himself adding suffix ‘ed’ to hit if he had become accustomed to adding the suffix for a different number of words. According to the evidence concept, one should, therefore, search and query on evidence that would better support our actions so as to fight their inductive biases (Schulz 377).
In conclusion, Foucault’s Panopticism concept, Schulz’s evidence, and Freire’s banking concept offers clear reasons for the type and class of education that a student receives in the different types of schools. The Freire’s theory explains the reason for a student being attentive and keen in class when the teacher is teaching and is more common in public schools. The Foucault’s concept, on the other hand, shows why a teacher seeks for power and expects the student to be submissive in school; it is more prevalent in charter schools. Inductive reasoning explains for different behavior and action in all schools.
Works Cited
Foucault, Michel. Discipline And Punish. 1st ed. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. Print.
Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy Of The Oppressed. 1st ed. New York: Continuum, 2000. Print.
Schulz, Kathryn. Being Wrong. 1st ed. New York: Ecco, 2010. Print.